What is the most difficult step to start a startup?
  • Motivation
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Mindset
  • bussiness
3 Answers
harkirat singh
updated: 27 December 2019
I am currently working on my own startup, so I am writing not only the most difficult step to start, but the variables you need in place to make sure it will not shut down within the first year. If you have these 3, jump right into it and don't worry about it Experience - Make sure you have a strong resume. You should have plenty of experience in coding if your idea is technology based, or in sales if thats the role you will assume. Team - I can't stress how important this is. You need good people who you can TRUST, and you know will work equally hard to make your dream a reality. My startup is struggling only because i don't have the right team. Make sure your team is working as hard as you are, and they share the same belief in the company. Patience - This is very important for a startup. I have friends who had to wait 3 years before their first order. I have had friends who have invested lakhs and even crore without seeing any revenue. You have to be very patient and you have to believe in yourself and in your idea. I say all this because you will go from earning steady income to no income for quite some time. This will be tough. You will have to change your lifestyle, save every cent, work every second, and feel like shit all the time, but trust me if you are ready to handle all that then go for it. P.S. - I hate how you only see the beautiful side of startups, the unicorns and the successful ones, but the struggle behind those is very hard, so your fear is justified. Make sure that you are READY.
Dagmwit Alemayehu
updated: 27 December 2019
Most difficult step? Getting rid of preconceived ideas about startups, and getting focused on whatever you want to do. "Startups," like so many other named vocations or activities, has acquired its own special language and body of presumed expertise; so much so that it has become a "meme," without special substance or meaning. What was there before the term was coined? Basically just this: you went into business for yourself. So WHY the huge interest now? Because there is an entire industry of people who claim some special expertise, methods, steps and processes which are deemed essential to success. And they make a lot of money doing that. Simple ideas and concepts are dressed up in special words which lend an air of mystery or authenticity. No one opens their doors, now they "launch." No one hires people, now they "build a team." No one asks possible customers what they want, now they do "market research." No one has a few friends who have something to offer, now they have "founders." This ridiculous, self-centered naming and labeling is the same as playing house: you be mommy and I'll be daddy. And how is all this spread around? Same way as cute cat videos - the Internet. It is all snake oil bullshit and means nothing. Don't believe me? Look at many of the ANSWERS to startup and entrepreneur questions -especially the very long ones. See the fancy words, the long paragraphs? And how much actually useful information is there? Practically nothing, or at least nothing that can't be expressed in everyday language. This is the evidence that P. T. Barnum was right -there's a sucker born every minute. Don't be one of them. Unburden yourself of this baggage; the sheer mental weight of it will keep you from actually doing anything. Throw away the books, remove the web sites from your favorites, purge the silly words from your mind -and get to work. If you know what you want to do, then go do it. And if you don't know how to do it, then get a job at some place that already does it. Want to open a gourmet donut shop? Then work in a donut shop. Don't ask for advice from Quora - talk to people, or work for people, who already know how to do something. The opening of a new business (a "startup") is not something one simply decides to do. Calling it a startup doesn't imbue the effort with any special power or capacity and it certainly doesn't impress anyone. The opening of a new business is the result of some deliberate effort that may be of long standing, perhaps over years. It actually "started" long before it "launched." The business is the result of something, not the creation of something out of nothing. Get all that in your head, and get to work.
shashank bansal
updated: 27 December 2019
The most difficult step is sustaining long enough to build a viable business. Most startups fail because they start with a timer (1-2 years) and run out of money, energy, motivation before the timer runs out. You're young, you don't have to do that. If you can, find a job or a way to sustain yourself financially and build your startup on the side. That way you don't have a timer to make something work and experiment with a bunch of ideas and when something starts to 'take off' you can quit and pursue it full time. Don't even think about investment until you have insanely strong traction and strongly believe that it can accelerate growth. Without a stellar team or traction, chasing investors is a waste of time.